NBC used to describe Thursday night as Must See TV because it was a ratings powerhouse. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe AMX is described as a Must See AMC, and its 390 V8 is stronger than any Thursday night.

In 1969, man first set foot on the moon, and American Motors was still producing cars. AMC's sad financial history to that point calls into question which was the more remarkable feat. Seemingly consistently strapped for cash, American Motors learned early on to spend its meager resources wisely, and to stretch what it already had, maximizing the investment. That's what led to the existing Javelin being shortened, lightened, and turned into a two-seater, in an attempt to grab some of the lucrative muscle car dollars that were flowing into the other American makers' coffers.

The resultant AMX, for American Motors eXperimental, joined the Corvette as being America's only V8 two-seaters of the era. Today's 1969 example is claimed all original, and its 315-bhp 390 is said to be numbers-matching in garanimal-like fashion. While it's not the uber-rare SS/AMX, the Go package - popular on these cars - brings upgrades to the brakes, suspension, and diff, plus Magnum 500 rims. This bronze beauty subtracts the era-appropriate red stripe tires for some mismatched radials, but adds rear window louvers and a Ronnie Kaplan-homage spoiler ('70 cars had a Donohue Spoiler) to bring the ‘60s vibe alive. Also tarting up the outside are set of factory lakes, and speed stripes visually elongating the already John Holmesian nose. The seller gives no mention of mileage, but regardless the car looks clean both top and bottom.

Inside, the first thing you'll notice is that it's brown. The next notable thing is that the interior is kind of a Rubik's Cube of brown as the various plastics have all reacted to 41-years of UV light differently. In fact the shot of the rear carpeted deck makes it look like dogs have been pissing back there, but that's probably just the lighting. When it rolled down the Kenosha production line, A/C was apparently not an option checked off this car's build sheet. That makes the heater the only thing actually controllable by the Weather Eye climate control, good if you're an Alaska native, not so much for those who call the South their home. Instrumentation is sparse, the three dials behind the thin, cracked steering wheel being a tachometer, a clock, and - new for '69 - a 140-mph speedometer.

AMC must have bought the copyright for the word command because they used it everywhere, including on this car the Shift Command transmission (a Borg Warner 3-speed) and Safe Command front disc-rear drum power brakes. The seller does say those brakes are all new, as well as is the water pump and power steering pump. He goes on to relate that the car has been garaged its entire life, and is both rust and bondo-free. Under-hood looks not only complete, but as though it's had a gallon jug of Armor-All spilled on it. That may be why the coil wire looks like it has gone all shrinky-dink.

While that's all well and good, you need to understand that you're not looking at a restored car here, and despite the shiny paint and gleaming, dent-free chrome, there are panel misalignments, the aforementioned See's variety pack of an interior, and the clash of the tire-brands to be considered.

Also to be considered is the asking price. The seller of this Boston-based bronze bomber is hoping to add $16,000 to his bank account, while at the same time clearing an AMX-sized space in his driveway.

A quick search around the Web shows plenty of AMXs out there, many for a lot more than this seller's asking. But, what's important here is what this seller is asking, and if you think he's off his nut for doing so. So what do you think, is sixteen-large for this '69 AMX a BFD? Or, does that price make this AMC a POS?